Weiner Fesses Up, Says He Won’t Step Down

Posted on Jun 6, 2011

Another high-profile politician has learned about the perils of conducting a career—or, in this case, extracurricular activities—with the aid of modern technology. Yes, Rep. Anthony Weiner did send that risqué tweet, he admitted Monday, and it wasn’t the only one.

The New York Democrat made an apology, during a press conference at a Manhattan Sheraton hotel, to his supporters and his wife, as well as to one notable detractor from the right, blogger Andrew Breitbart, who was the key figure in bringing the scandal to light. While he was at it, Weiner also called himself out on his cyber-shenanigans with several other women. He is attempting to contain the fallout and hang on to his seat in Congress at the same time. Whether he’ll be successful in either of those endeavors remains to be seen. —KA

Video of Weiner’s confession follows the excerpt below.

The Washington Post:

In an extraordinary reversal at an extraordinary news conference, Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York admitted Monday afternoon that he had repeatedly lied to his constituents and the country in denying that he had sent a lewd picture of himself to a college-age woman on Twitter. In a tearful admission, he said that he had in fact sent multiple inappropriate messages to multiple women but that he had done nothing illegal and would not resign.

... That was in contrast to the bombast that Weiner demonstrated last week, when he sought — to disastrous effect — to shame reporters for asking questions about a photo sent from his Twitter account. He repeatedly said his account had been “hacked,” but he failed to answer basic questions — such as whether the photo was of him and why he hadn’t called on authorities to investigate the matter. All that defiance appeared drained from the lanky congressman Monday as he stood for more than a half an hour taking fire from reporters, who asked whether he had used any government computers to send the messages, whether he knew any of the recipients to be underage, whether he had engaged in phone sex, whether his wife would stand by him and whether he thought he could be reelected.